
Landscape with Giraffes
- Kenya is located in Eastern Africa
- It borders Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, along with the Indian Ocean.
- Although it is a developing country, Kenya has one of the strongest economies in Africa
- The main languages are English and Swahili, which are both commonly spoken in the larger cities
- Kenya consists of highlands, lowland desert, plains, and mountains, with elevations from sea level to as high as 5080 meters above sea level (Top of Mt. Kenya).
- It has more than 40 different ethnicities in Kenya.
- The main tribes in Kenya are the: Kamba, Kalenjin, Kikuyu, Kisii, Luo, Luyha, Masai, Meru, Swahili, and the Turkana. Some of which migrated from Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and Western Africa.
- The majority of the population is Christian, although thirty percent is Muslim. Some of the tribal peoples follow their own ancestral beliefs as well.
- The main foods in Kenya are ugali, (a starchy porridge/ dough), chapatti (a fried wheat powder paste), bread, rice, beef, chicken, goat, and tilapia.
HISTORY
- Kenya uses the Parliamentary Republic system
- Kenya became independent from the United Kingdom in December of 1963
- The Great Rift Valley of Kenya was formed by the splitting of the earths crust more than 20 million years ago
FACTS
• Kenya was named after Mount Kenya, the largest mountain in the country and the second largest in Africa
• Most of the Kenyan population is protestant, followed by Roman Catholics, Indigenous believers and Muslim
• Kenya’s government is the Parliamentary republic
• Trade and finance is mostly done in East Kenya
• Kenya is home to some of the oldest known records of the history of man kind
• 20 million years ago the earths crust was split forming something called The Great Rift Valley of Kenya
• In 2004 Professor Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, being the first African American woman to achieve this honor. Two of the world’s heritage sites are located in Kenya, which are Lake Turkana National Park and Mount Kenya National Park
• Popular sports in Kenya are cricket, track and field, boxing, soccer, volleyball, rugby, tennis and field hockey